Wheel structure



July 28, 1953 J, DEFFENBAUGH 2,647,025

WHEEL STRUCTURE Original Filed Dec. 17, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VENTOR.

ATTORNEY July 28, 1953 J. L. DEFFENBAUGH 2,647,025

WHEEL STRUCTURE Original Filed Dec. 17, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ELE E IN VEN TOR.

ATTORNEY Patented July 28, 1953 WHEEL STRUCTURE "John- L. Defienbaugh,Peoria, 111., assignor to Caterpillar'Tractor 00., Peoria;lll., acorporation of' California Original application December .17, .1948,Serial No. 65,760. Divided and this application April 28, 1950, SerialNo. 158,640

3 Claims. (Cl. 308-187.1)

The'present invention will have many applications but is especiallyuseful for and will be disclosed herein as applied to'a track roller ofthe type commonly employed on a track type tractor for supporting themain body of the tractor on the rail surface of the endless trackmechanism.

In a track type tractor, the track rollers are subjected to extremelyheavy duty in an enis adapted to engage therail surfaces of anendlesstrack mechanism" (not shown). The hub is supported for rotation on apair of spaced tapered roller bearings l2, the inner races of which arecarried on end caps 13 and i4. -Each of the end caps is provided with athreaded connection with the ends of a non-rotating shaft l5 extendingthrough the bore of the hub and provided with a central portion l6 ofinvironment of a particularly abrasive nature and 10 creased diameter.The end capsare supported are subjected to severe and frequent impact bymeans of clampsll from spaced-'framememloads. As a result, they aresubject to rapid hers is forming a part of the roller truckframe. wearand distortion requiring frequent replace- As is also illustrated inFig. 2, the rim II is ment and repair. Under such operatingcondiseparated from the huh I!) by means of a retions, at major portionof the Wear is confined silient sleeve of rubber or other suitable matothe periphery of the rollers and it is thereterial to dampen the shockloads encountered fore common practice 'to provide roller rims by therim b'efore'transmitting'themto'thebearwhich may be replaced. However,in rollers ings. The sleeve 20 is encased in a plurality of used in thepast, considerable difilculty has been closely spaced semi-cylindricalmetal" sections encountered with the rims becoming loose and 20 formingan outer expansible substantially cyrotating on the hubs due todistortion and growth of the rim bore under the shock loads encountered.Another difficulty encountered in other types of rollers is that it isnecessary practically to disassemble the complete roller to replace therim or adjust theendplay of the-supporting bearings, thus permittingdirt or other foreign material to enter the bearings and bearing sealscausing rapid failure upon subsequent use.

The object of this invention is to provide a roller construction whichpermits the roller rim to be removed from its supporting hub withoutdisassembly of the other parts of the roller.

Another object of this invention is to provide means to support thebearings within the roller hub in a manner to permit adjustment ofbearing end play without removing the roller from its supporting frame.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be made apparent inthe following specification wherein reference is made to theaccompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a central longitudinal sectional view through a track rollerembodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 11-11 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of the driving mechanism for therotating half of a bearing seal shown in Fig. 1.

In Fig. 1, a track roller embodying the present invention is illustratedas comprising a hollow hub I0 having a removable outer rim II whichlin'drical sleeve 2| which is adapted to engage the bore of the rollerrim. As the roller rim ispress'ed over the hub and resilient sleeve, thepresence of a metal outer sleeve permits easier installation and removalby virtue of the lesser resistance to sliding movement of metal againstmetal than that of rubber against metal. 'The sectional parts of thesleeve 2| are preferably secured to the resilient sleeve 20 as by anyconventional bonding method. In its free state, the diameter of theresilient sleeve 20 is greater than the bore of the rim so that whenassembled, the sleeve is in compression. During distortion and growth ofthe rim bore, the resilient material expands providing good frictionalcontact between the outer sleeve 2| and the bore of the rim preventingrelative rotation. Relative axial movement is prevented by a pair ofsplit lock rings illustrated at 22 in Fig. 1.

Each of the end caps I3 and I4 is provided with an outwardly projectingcup-like flang 23 forming an annular recess for the reception of a pairof face type sealing members 24 and 25. The member 24 is carried on theend cap and is prevented from rotation thereon by means of a pin 26. Astack of Belleville type springs 27 is interposed between the flange 23and member 24 urging it into sealing engagement with the sealing member25 thus preventing foreign material from entering the bore of the huband damaging the bearing. A resilient cover 28 interposed between thespring nest and sealing member 24 is provided to prevent water and dirtfrom surrounding the springs preventing their free action. At its outerperiphery, the cover 28 is pressed into sealing engagement with theflange 23 by means of a retainer ring 29.

The sealing member 25 is carried in the bore of the roller hub I0 and isprovided with an irregular face 30 adapted to engage a complementaryface 3! provided on a driving ring 32 pressed into the bore of the hub.As is also illustrated in Fig. 3, a resilient gasket 33 is interposedbetween the complementary irregular faces preventing the entrance offoreign material between them as well as providing a resilient drivebetween the driving ring and the seal member. The driving connectionautomatically centers the sealing member 25 with respect to the drivingring which in combination with the resilient action of the gasket 3|insures good sealing con tact between the sealing faces of the members24 and 25.

The diameter of the flange 23 is less than the inside diameter of therim ll permitting the rim tobe removed from the hub withoutdisassembling the bearings or bearing seals thus simplifying thisoperation. The inner diameter of the sealing ring 25 is less than thelargest diameter of; the inner race of the bearing [2 to insure that theinner race of the bearing, the seal members, and the end cap will beremoved from the shaft as a unit. Upon removal of either of the end.caps, the springs 21 urge both of the sealing members away from theflange 23 until the seal- 0 ing member 25 engages the inner race of thebearing 12 thus continuously maintaining the sealing members in sealingcontact. By virtue of this arrangement, abrasive particles which wouldcause serious damage to the sealing faces are prevented from lodgingbetween the sealing faces during the time that the roller isdisassembled.

As the inner races of the bearings [2 are carried on the end caps l3 andI4, the end play of the bearings may be adjusted by rotation of eithercap relative to the shaft I5. At assembly, the end cap [4 is threaded onthe shaft 15 until the inner face of the cap abuts the shoulder of theraisedportion l6 preventing further relative movement. The end clearanceor play of the bearing is then adjusted by rotation of the cap 4 l3which is provided with a projection 34 for the reception of a wrench. Inservice, this adjustment can be made without removing the roller fromthe truck frame by loosening the clamp I? permitting adjustment of theend cap I3.

I claim:

1. In a wheel structure which includes a hub supported for rotation onspaced bearings, a removable bearing supporting member for each bearing,a sealing assembly on each bearing supporting member to prevent entry offoreign matter to the bearings, and means including a part of thebearing engageable by a part of the seal to prevent breaking of the sealformed by the sealing assembly upon its removal from the wheelstructure.

2. In a wheel structure with spaced antifriction bearings, a hubcarrying spaced outer bearing races, a shaft, end assemblies on theshaft, each end assembly carrying an inner bearing race for cooperationwith one of said outer bearing races, a seal device carried by each endassembly to prevent entry of foreign matter to the bearings, said endassembly being removable, and means acting upon its removal to hold theparts of the seal device in sealing contact.

3. In a wheel structure with spaced antifriction bearings, a hubcarrying spaced outer bearing races, a shaft, end assemblies on theshaft, each end assembly carrying an inner bearing race for cooperationwith one of said outer hearing races, a seal device with resilientpressure carried by each end assembly to prevent entry of foreign matterto the bearings, said end assembly being removable, and a part on theseal device separable from the hub and engaged by the inner bearing raceto retain the seal parts in sealing relationship while the end assemblyis removed.

JOHN L. DEFFENBAUGH.

References Cited in the file of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS

